<p>I love the GC at our small private school. She works hard in a range of activities and gets to know most kids personally or through info exchanges with teachers. But as far as college counseling, she is limited as to what she can do for individuals and if it weren’t for CC, I’d come out with a poor grasp of the process and probably have unrealistic expectations. If I were to advise her, I’d tell her to emphasize more to kids and parents early on that they have to do a lot of their own research on application requirements, scholarships and admissions probabilities. She can only give general ideas of schools and is familiar with some more than others, but I think parents and students here might depend too much on her presumed knowledge. I’d also tell her to be very clear in preparing kids for rejection and making them understand the at times arbitrary nature of admissions. I think she follows a policy of not “chancing” kids for any schools–as she would never discourage a kid from applying to their dream reach, just as she would never offer absolute assurances that they’d be admitted to a safety (although she might warn of the difficulty of admission to a particular school in a general sense). I feel this contributes to unrealistic expectations for some kids and a lot of disappointment come decision day. I’m glad I’ve had CC to help temper expectations and help me prepare my D for any outcomes.</p>